How to Improve Purchase Order Cycle Time: Lessons from $20B in Spend

One of the most common questions finance and procurement leaders ask is:
“How long should it actually take to create and approve a purchase order?”

While it might sound simple, the answer reveals a lot about how efficient and mature your procurement process really is. Our Benchmark Report looks at over $20B in real spend data across multiple industries, showing that top performers issue a purchase order in under five hours, while others can take more than two full business days.

That time gap doesn’t just slow down approvals — it delays payments, strains vendor relationships, and eats into budget visibility.

In this guide, we’ll unpack what’s behind those numbers: why some teams move faster, how automation and supplier management influence cycle time, and what practical steps you can take to shorten the gap between request and approval.

What your purchase order cycle time really says about your process

Whether or not you have a formal procurement title, if you manage the day-to-day purchasing for your company, you already know that not every request moves at the same speed. Some get approved within minutes. Others disappear into an approval black hole, only to resurface days later when a project stalls or a supplier is chasing an update.

That’s your purchase order cycle time at work. The total cycle time is the total time from when a purchase request is submitted to when the PO is finally sent to the supplier. This number is one of the best indicators you have in determining how well your purchase order process is really functioning.

What does a long PO cycle time mean?

A long PO cycle time isn’t just a sign of slow approvals, it’s often a symptom of deeper process issues. Maybe there’s no clear purchase approval workflow, budget visibility is missing, or too many purchases are happening outside the system through non-PO spend. Across hundreds of requests, those delays add up fast. A purchase order stuck in approval for two days can hold up a supplier delivery, delay project work, and throw off accruals at month-end. Multiply that across departments, and Finance starts chasing numbers that don’t match reality — while vendors grow impatient waiting for confirmation or payment

What does a short PO cycle time mean?

Shorter, more consistent cycle times usually mean something else: clear ownership, automated routing, and visibility across departments. In other words, procurement is working the way it should — predictable, traceable, and aligned with how your business actually operates.

How to measure and analyze your purchase order cycle time

1. Map your workflow

Start by learning everything there is to know about the purchase order process. This includes the requisition, approval, PO creation, supplier confirmation, and payment.

2. Track timestamps

For at least one full month, record how long each stage takes. Many procurement systems can pull this data automatically — if yours can’t, a simple spreadsheet will do.

3. Include non-POs

Don’t ignore purchases made outside the PO process. They distort your cycle time data and often hide the biggest bottlenecks.

4. Compare departments

Look for inconsistencies. Are approvals taking longer in one team? Are smaller purchases getting delayed just as much as large ones?

5. Benchmark your results

Once you’ve captured your average cycle time, compare your procurement KPIs against industry data to see where you stand.The

Real causes behind slow purchase order cycle times

From what we’ve seen in working with our customers, slow purchase order cycles rarely come down to a single bottleneck. They’re the result of friction stacking up across everyday steps — a missing budget code here, an unclear approver there, or a purchase that bypasses the process altogether.

Most delays show up in three predictable places:

1. Approvals without context

When approvers don’t see real-time budgets or project codes, they stall. They send a message for clarity or hold off entirely — turning a quick review into a multi-day wait.

2. Manual handoffs

Copying details between spreadsheets or systems creates small but constant delays. Those “just five minutes” add up across every PO and every department.

3. Off-system and non-PO spend

The biggest black hole. When purchases happen outside the process, finance loses visibility and procurement ends up retroactively cleaning up what should’ve been controlled up front.

Long cycle times tend to happen because there is no process, or the process you have doesn’t work. As soon as you remove the guesswork, the manual, and offer up an easy system everyone can use you have given everyone the same source of truth.

How supplier management impacts purchase order speed

Even when approvals and workflows run smoothly, supplier management can slow everything down.
Many organizations work with hundreds, sometimes thousands  of vendors, each with their own  supplier onboarding forms, contacts, and payment terms. When supplier data lives in spreadsheets or emails, even a simple order can get stuck waiting for confirmation or documentation.

Teams that manage suppliers proactively don’t necessarily have fewer vendors, they simply practice better vendor management. They categorize suppliers by type or spend level, use standardized onboarding, and rely on top vendor management software that syncs supplier data across departments.

That structure keeps the process moving:

• POs route to verified suppliers automatically.
• Vendor information is complete and accessible for AP.
• Payments can be processed without manual follow-up.

Strong supplier management becomes a speed lever in your organization. The cleaner your supplier data, the faster your approvals, confirmations, and payments move.

Where the fastest teams automate their purchase order workflows

Automation isn’t about replacing people — it’s about removing friction from the routine steps that slow everyone down. The fastest teams don’t just automate for the sake of it; they automate in the places where it has the biggest impact on speed and visibility.

Approvals and routing

Instead of waiting on email chains or missing Slack messages, top teams use automated routing rules that instantly send requests to the right approvers based on department, spend limit, or budget code. This alone can shave hours or even days off the average cycle time.

PO creation and matching

Manual data entry between requisitions, POs, and invoices is one of the biggest bottlenecks. Automating this flow ensures that once a request is approved, a purchase order is created automatically, tied to the right budget, and ready to send to the vendor, no rekeying or follow-up needed.

Real-time budget visibility

When budget data is integrated directly into the purchase workflow, approvers can make faster, more confident decisions. With real-time procurement budget tracking no one needs to pause and “check with finance” to see what’s in the budget and what isn’t.

Receipt tracking and invoice verification

Automating three-way matching between POs, receipts, and invoices reduces errors and prevents late payments. It also gives finance teams the confidence to close books faster without chasing missing confirmations.

For most organizations, learning where and when to automate is key. Look at your procurement processes, start small, automate the friction points, and measure the results. The compounding time savings can transform not just how fast POs move, but how predictable and transparent your entire purchasing process becomes.

Conclusion: Faster POs, Smarter Procurement

The time it takes to issue a purchase order says more about your organization than you might think. When every request moves through one connected, automated process, approvals don’t get lost, budgets stay visible, and suppliers stay confident in your timelines.

Cycle time isn’t just a metric to track, it reflects the efficiency of your purchase order management it tells you how aligned your people, processes, and systems really are. And once it’s under control, the ripple effect is immediate: better forecasting, fewer delays, and stronger relationships across finance and operations.

Want to see how your cycle times compare to others in your industry?

Explore the Procurement Benchmark Report and find out where your team stands  and how fast you could be moving.